His steps were slow and entirely silent. The noble’s guard parted with a nod and he stopped before their charges. Two was among the dozens of eyes following him. He looked down at the pair by his feet.

Ever so slowly raised her tear streaked face to meet his. Dust and grime clung to her. Tears and snot carved wet lines through the filth. Their reddened eyes stared up and Two drank their abject despair. She wished it wasn’t so easy to imagine what the noble felt.

The young bird stared at the angel and he stared back. “She’ll be okay.” That was all he said. It was all he needed to. Deadra fell forward and wrapped her arms around the angel’s legs. Her hunched form didn’t even reach his knees.

Bloodied hands stained a pristine cloth along with snot and tears. Red was smeared across feathers of pale gold and dusty brown.

Yet they seemed not the slightest bit bothered. He stared down with kind curious eyes. She couldn’t find his flavour when she breathed, he was an unknown, yet she struggled to imagine a lie coming from his lips. “It’s okay, Muss Deadra. Please, wake your aunt. She’ll want to be part of this discussion.”

It took a long while for Deadra to register the words but no one so much as grumbled. Eventually, though Deadra did return to her senses and released the angel. Though the stains remained. She roused her aunt with a hesitant shake.

The woman blinked slowly, then jerked to attention. She tried to stand, fumbling drunkenly but soon fell into her niece’s arms.

“My lady!” Anadrea rushed to her side but was dismissed with a wave.

The diplomat scanned their surroundings, with a severity that was unweakened by their present infirmity.

Her eyes landed on the tall woman.”Governor.” She stated.

She turned to the stags. “Eberwith,” she spat.

Then she turned Daisy and her eyes said all that was needed. Daisy waved.

“Thank you emissary Ignis. For ensuring the well-being of these visiting nobles and ensuring their ‘disagreement’ to disturb the city overmuch.” The governor spoke like a merchant going through a particularly uninteresting ledger. Sheer boredom drowned any weight her words could have carried. Her scent told a different story. She looked at the two ravens and oozed abundant amusement and a trickle of pity.

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Her duplicity was not remarkable, but as Two fully took the woman in she noticed features that were.

Two short horns, as black as her hair, sprouted from her forehead, noticeable by their gleaming polish. She wore a suit of sky blue and gold. Its low cut allowed her midnight blue mane to spill into view, like a thick and tightly bound fur scarf. Slits ran along the side of her suit and they revealed scales just as blue as her mane.

The woman was such a strange mismatch of familiar sights. Scales joined by horns and fur of deep blue. The proof of her imperial blood was strange and her place beside Lux was the only reason she hadn’t stolen her attention. Even her strangeness seemed quaint beside his radiance.

“Still I’m uncertain what to do about this. I’ve never had so active a night during my short tenure.” The governor, the cause of the slum’s decline, and distant source of Two’s problem, tapped her foot. There was the clink of metal. Two noticed their boot’s heel was gold. “What am I to do.”

Two reaffirmed her dislike for the woman.

“Cut the rubbish Lancet. You know the law as well as I do. An offence of this magnitude demands recompense it shall be in blood.” The smell of blood and metal grew with Leandra’s every word.

Soon it was a physical weight, a sharp blade dancing against her skin. The governor smiled, it was the expression of someone who wholly and truly did not care and wasn’t afraid to show it. She waved her hand and sharp blade were replaced by distant laughter. Blood by alcohol, anger by wry amusement. “ And you understand the price of rousing Spes Nova’s ire. Were it not for our visitor’s grace what would the temples have to sacrifice to appease the city? Would you lay yourself on their altar? ”

Leandra seethed in silence.

“Not to mention you, Aubert. Am I to believe young Petre attacked another clan without your knowing.”

The stags stood silently. The younger because he’d been beaten into a daze. The elder because of the patience that flowed from him like a river.

The governor shook her head “Never mind, this is not a matter that will be resolved tonight. I will take the leader of this lot and a few others. The executions and other boorish matters can wait for tomorrow.”

It was said so casually Two almost didn’t believe it. The sudden roar of the gang assured her it was true. Some at the periphery tried to bolt. Their heavy chains and the guard’s eager blades put an end to it. Others shouted pointless vulgarities. Some begged the angels for mercy.

“That serpent is ours!” Leandra joined the growing bedlam.

Chaos grew around her, Two stared at Deadra and dared to hope. The frazzled noble jolted at the sudden sound. “W- wait one of them helped me! A girl named two.” The words were scarcely audible over the building riot but found Two all the same.

Two hurried forward eager to escape the growing mob of jostling bodies restrained by the guard. She was steps away when a large hand wrapped around her neck from behind and pulled her back. Jangling chains heralded the squeeze that stole her breath and silenced her scream. “You sneak, you blighted wench. You sold us out.” Butch’s voice was a wrathful hiss. But there was a smile in her voice. “But old butch ain’t gonna let ya leave him in the gutter.”

The vice around her neck grew tighter and tighter. Liquid terror rushed through her. She frantically tried to pry the fingers loose but it was for nought. No one could see her flail. She was but one of the panicked gangs many. Seconds were left till her throat folded and her spine snapped.

She turned her attention from the pain in her neck and dragged her whirling mind to focus on her arm and the array beneath her sleeve. She didn’t see the light, but she felt the fear drain.

Then pressure was gone followed though the fingers remained. She stumbled forward and fell to her knees. She threw the hand from about her neck and a disembodied arm fell in front of her with a wet thunk.

There was a splash behind her. Gasping and wheezing she turned. A sloughing pile of minced meat was behind her. Shreds of cloth and sheared metal poked from the pile of red meat and pink bone. It took a second for the gangster to notice. By the next they were silent.

Slowly Two turned forward and lurched to her feet. Deadra stared past Two to the pile behind her. Their chocolate skin was bloodless and ashen. Their eyes were wide and haunted. Two wondered if she looked the same.

“Is that the girl?” the governor asked.

“Yes, and she is ours along with the other snake,” Leandra stated.

Two didn’t notice the words. All she could think of was the warm fluid that had found its way around her hood and was running down her neck and back. She was glad she had nothing left to vomit.